Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic party [LDP] has chosen stability and moderation in electing Fumio Kishida as its new leader – a post that all but guarantees that he will become the country’s prime minister on Monday.
Kishida, like Taro Kono – the man he defeated in a second round of voting on Wednesday – is a hereditary politician in a party packed with MPs who were practically destined at birth to occupy a seat in parliament.
But unlike Kono – who had vowed to reform a party reeling from 12 months under the unpopular Yoshihide Suga – the third-generation politician is seen as a safe pair of hands to guide the party into a general election that must be held by the end of November.
After almost a decade with the conservative Shinzo Abe and his hand-picked successor, Suga, at the helm, Kishida’s victory marks a return to a style of leadership many believed had deserted the LDP during its lurch to the right: pragmatic, centrist policies spearheaded by a decent, if unexciting, leader.
“The powers within [the LDP] have decided for a variety of reasons that Kishida is a better bet for stability and longevity, etcetera,” said Brad Glosserman, a senior adviser to the Pacific Forum. “They’ve made this bet before.” Expectations for Kishida are low, he added, “which could be good … because if you expect little of someone it is easy to surprise”.
Set against Kono – a politician permanently in search of a headline – Kishida’s rise has been steady and understated, an approach he will need to sell to a public with fresh memories of the bungling Suga.
Insofar as traditional regard for pedigree matters, Kishida has as much to offer as Abe and other hereditary politicians. His grandfather, Masaki, and father, Fumitake, were both MPs. The youngest Kishida was elected to parliament, representing a Hiroshima district, in 1993.
Kishida, though, appears to have acknowledged that background and a reputation for modesty will not be enough to turn around his underwhelming performances in polls of politicians voters would like to see take Japan into the post-Abe era.
Some will have been buoyed up by the themes, however loosely articulated, of his leadership campaign: a reduction in the income gap, support for low-paid, temporary workers and families with young children. It is telling that in his victory speech on Wednesday, Kishida spoke of the need to return to “the politics of generosity”, although he stopped short of calling for tax increases.
In foreign policy, he will be expected to address economic and security concerns raised by a more assertive China, and to repair ties with South Korea.
His time as foreign minister gives cause for cautious optimism. In 2015, he helped broker an agreement to end years of rancour between Tokyo and Seoul over the Japanese military’s wartime use of sex slaves, euphemistically known as “comfort women” – although the deal has since fallen apart.
The following year, Kishida, who has called the abolition of nuclear weapons “my life’s work”, helped arrange a visit to Hiroshima by Barack Obama, the first to the city by a sitting US president.
As a child, his family lived for several years in New York where he encountered racism at school, an experience he has reportedly said gave him a strong sense of social justice.
Unlike the teetotal Suga, Kishida enjoys a drink and supports the Hiroshima Carp baseball team. He lives in Tokyo with his wife and their two sons and, according to Japanese media, is hands-on when it comes to washing-up and cleaning the bathroom.
Agencies contributed reporting.
